Being a Woman Entrepreneur in Turkey: Life Role Expectations and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

Abstract

Two major competing life roles, work and family, are reported to dominate people’s efforts in constructing a life. Here, we aim to explore whether and how attributed life roles and related coping strategies of current and aspiring women entrepreneurs meaningfully differentiate and whether the existence of entrepreneurs in their families affects the formation of these different clusters. In our empirical, two-part exploratory study conducted in the emerging economy setting of Turkey, first, we utilize the survey results of 234 women entrepreneurs to explore the issue, and then in the second part of the study, we administer face-to-face interviews to draw out some critical insights. We end up with three different clusters differentiating in their responses to challenges and effect of these on their entrepreneurial self-efficacy beliefs. We believe our study may shed some light on understanding nonhomogeneous women response to roles and challenges in the society and women’s entrepreneurial journey.